1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) communications and more specifically relates to methods and structure for communicating information between SAS devices to identify proprietary (“super-standard”) features of SAS devices.
2. Discussion of Related Art
In communications between interconnected components of systems, it is common to utilize standardized communication protocols over standardized communication media. Relying on standardized communications allows mixing of components from a variety of vendors to exchange information in accordance with the utilized standard. However, in many cases, vendors prefer to provide enhancements available only when compatible components are interconnected—all from a common vendor. This allows vendors to enhance performance of a system when more of the vendor's products are utilized. In such cases, the components of the interconnected system must presume that all other components are compatible or may perform compatibility tests to determine whether other components of the system are compatible with the enhancements provided by a particular vendor.
One problem with testing components of a system to determine compatibility with vendor proprietary (super-standard) enhancements arises in that the testing procedure itself may generate protocol violations or other forms of errors in devices that are not compliant with the vendor's proposed enhancements. Such violations may cause error recovery procedures to be invoked within a device that fails the compatibility test. Such error recovery can confuse a user and can consume significant time and resources.
Thus, it is an ongoing challenge to provide methods and structures that can determine compatibility with vendor unique (super-standard) enhancements while reducing the potential for error conditions in non-compliant devices coupled within the system.